An organization for men and women between the ages of 14 and 21 is seeking new members for an outdoor scouting unit, which kicks off activities in November.
The Venturing Crew, which is part of the Boy Scouts of America program, began 11 years ago, according to associate advisor Matt Hannam. The crew has been around since 1969 and has been an Explorer Post, a Sea Scout Ship and, for the past few years, a Venturing Crew.
The Venturing Crew focuses on three things: fun, outdoor high adventure and leadership development.
The crew is a land- and water-based program that promotes boating skills. Sailing and motorboating excursions take place throughout the year to teach members how to operate a sailboat and motorboat.
“We offer a very rich and exciting outdoor program and concentrate on high adventure-type activities while teaching outdoor-related skills ranging from basic camping, to first aid, to aquatics-related,” Hannam said.
He said other than sailing on a 30-foot sailboat and riding on a 25-foot Pontoon boat, the Venturing Crew can enjoy such activities as backpacking trips, shooting sports, climbing, zip lines, ropes courses, sailing, motor boating, scuba diving, swimming, kayaking, camping trips, scuba and snorkeling, along with outdoor skills instruction.
“We have 100 percent access to all of the Boy Scouts of America facilities and therefore can offer many of these often expensive activities at a very inexpensive rate,” Hannam said.
An open house recruitment day will be held from 1-4 p.m. Nov. 8 at the Cape Coral Yacht Club for those who are interested in joining.
“There will be free food available and our sailboat or motorboat will be in attendance,” he said.
Hannam said the core group for the Venturing Crew graduated from high school last spring leaving the membership with four youths. He would love to see the number of members increase again for the upcoming year’s events.
“We are hoping that candidates will drop us an e-mail or phone call in advance so we can effectively plan,” Hannam said of the open house.
“We have a lot of knowledge and experience to share with teen-aged youth. We just need more youth to share it with,” he said.
For information about the program, contact Matt Hannam at 898-4952 or mhannam@yahoo.com, or Debi Ryan at 560-7788 or gulfsedge@comcast.net.
The Venturing Crew is set to kick off activities Nov. 13-15 at Camp Miles for a weekend of rock wall climbing, zip lines and rope courses.
The Venturing Crew meetings are held Sunday afternoons and often coincide with a day of sailing or a motorboating day trip.